Dont You Hate Me?
by Degrassi Nonsense
Summary: Jeli fanfic. Read it. Review it.


Eli woke up at about 4 in the morning to the sound of sniffling and crying. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, jumping out of bed to go check on his father. He lightly cracked his dad's door open.

"Dad, you ok?" he whispered. No answer, so it wasn't his dad.

'Jake' he thought to himself.

He then scurried downstairs to the guest bedroom with quite a bit of speed. The crying sounded louder as he went down. It _was_ Jake. As he got downstairs he cracked the door and saw his poultry-loving friend sitting up in his bed, shoulders moving up and down as he softly sobbed. Eli's heart sank. He never knew why, but he could never stomach watching another guy cry. He always felt the need to help.

"Jake?" he whispered to him.

Jake looked behind him, then turned back around. "W-What?"

Eli opened the door and walked over to his crying friend. Jake had come to his house in tears and with a bag on his shoulder. Eli was shocked and confused. Shocked, because Jake doesn't cry, or at least he hasn't seen it before. Confused, because he chose to come to his house. And not only that, he _walked_, not drove.

"Eli, h-hey." Jake said, breathing unevenly.

"Jake? What are you… Hey, what's wrong dude?" Eli asked, concerned.

"Uh… do you think I could stay here? Just for a few days?"

"Uh, sure man. but is there a-"

"Thanks." He said, brushing passed him and walking inside. "So is there somewhere I can sleep?"

"Uh, yeah there's a guest room right there. Is something going-"

"Thanks man." Jake said, cutting him off once again.

That was at 6pm, and for the rest of the night they didn't see each other, nor did they speak. Jake didn't even eat that night, which made Eli worry even more because his dad bought KFC (AN: I had to do it, I couldn't resist). Eli figured it's a good time to learn what had Jake so down.

"Jake, what's wrong, kid?" he asked, with a hand lightly on his shoulder. Jake didn't say anything. "Jake, look I know you and I were kinda… well, black and white. But that's the past. You can tell me anything."

Jake looked down and sighed, wiping his eyes and finally speaking. "I… I came out to my parents."

Eli's eyes widened. "Came out? As in…?" he trailed off.

"Please… don't make fun of me." Jake pleaded, tearing up again.

Eli stuttered. "Uh, I-I'd never. My friend is transgendered so… It's never a big deal for me. Although I'm more than surprised Jake." He told him. "So why are you here?"

"They kicked me out. My dad and Helen… They just dropped me outside like… like… like that tiger from the Flintstones." Jake said, wiping his eyes.

Eli felt horrible for him, but he couldn't help but find it adorable that he actually used humor during his serious situation. All gawking went aside as Jake began to cry once again. Eli tried desperately to calm him down.

"Jake, don't cry. It's ok, don't cry." He said, rubbing his back.

"I thought they loved me, Eli. Especially my dad. They just told me to leave. I mean, my dad and I have gone through everything together. You'd expect him to be accepting but… I guess I was wrong." Jake said. "They were all I had. My mom left us, and now they're pushing me away too. It's like I wasn't even his son to begin with."

Eli felt awful. Jake and Eli had never actually been best friends, but he couldn't bear the sight of him crying anymore. Eli didn't understand why he did, but it made him sick. Eli couldn't take it anymore and threw his arms around Jake and held him tight. Jake wasn't moving at all and he had become silent.

'Crap." Eli thought. "He's uncomfortable"

As Eli started to let go of Jake, Jake clutched onto Eli as if his life depended on it. "No, please! Please don't go!" he said.

Eli then held onto him. Jake began to cry again, and Eli's heart started to break more and more. Eli did all he could to get Jake to stop crying, but he failed. 20 minutes had passed and Jake was still at it.

"Jake please don't cry. Please." Eli pleaded, letting go. He then wiped Jake's tears away. "You don't deserve this. You don't deserve to be sad. All this crying, you don't deserve this, Jake."

"Yeah? Why not?"

"Because you're a great person. You're smart, you're funny, you have great carpenter skills or whatever… If your father cant see that then what's the point of being upset?" Eli told him.

Jake actually calmed down a little, but he was kind of confused. "W-Why do you c-care? How come you're being so n-nice to me?"

"Because I…" Eli hesitated.

Jake sighed. "Oh, I get it. You're just telling me what I want to hear."

"What? No, Jake I-"

"Eli, it's ok. Really, you can go back to sleep. I know I woke you up, I'm sorry. I guess I'll be going tomorrow morning. I don't want to be any more of a-"

Jake was silenced when Eli crashed his lips into his. Jake stayed frozen, not even kissing back, he was far too shocked to even move. Eli realized this and pulled back.

"I meant every single thing I said to you, Jake."

"Eli I-"

"Don't leave. Please… Just don't leave."

Jake was dumbfounded, confused, and flattered all at once. "Eli, what about Clare? Or Imogen?"

"It's always been you." Eli blurted, not really wanting to admit that.

Jake's eyes widened a little. "But I thought you hated me."

"I never hated you. I mean, I've had to say it every now and then, much to my displeasure. If I didn't give off the impression that I hated you… I would've been too obvious."

"Too obvious? What do you mean?"

"I had to convince myself that I hated you or else… or else I would've fallen in love with you."

Jake then smiled for the first time since he got there. "Small world. I've always liked you too."

"Really?"

"Yeah and… the only way I was able to mask myself from everyone was-"

"Clare." They both said in unison, chuckling lightly.

"So… what now?" Eli asked.

"I don't know, maybe a little something like this." Jake said, closing the gap between the two. Immediately, the both of them felt a spark. Eli, for the first time in months felt a sense of calmness, and Jake, for the first time in months felt a sense of freedom.

The two parted from each other. "Listen, Jake, this mattress kinda sucks. Wanna migrate to higher places? And by that I just mean my room upstairs." Eli joked, holding a hand out.

Jake chuckled and clutched on to it. "Sure."


End file.
